Titans Collecting Tackles Who Score Touchdowns

Free agent backup Ty Sambrailo, signed Wednesday, scored on a 35-yard catch last season

NASHVILLE – There is a catch to playing tackle for the Tennessee Titans these days.

You have to be able to catch.

Over the past four seasons, 10 different NFL offensive linemen have caught touchdown passes. Four are now under contract with the Titans.

The latest to join that group is Ty Sambrailo, a five-year veteran who spent the past three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. Tennessee signed Sambrailo, who is 6-foot-5, 311 pounds, to a one-year contract Wednesday.

A second-round pick (59 overall) by Denver in 2015, the 28-year-old has played 57 games in his NFL career. He never has been a full-time starter, though. He has made 13 starts in all, never more than four in a season.

He did not start any games in 2019, which was a first, but he also caught a touchdown pass – another first. He caught the Tampa Bay Buccaneers off guard with a 35-yard catch-and-run (he ran the final 20 yards or so) in the regular season finale. It started the scoring in a 28-22 Atlanta and was his team’s longest pass play of the contest.

The Titans scored twice in 2019 on touchdown passes to tackles. David Quessenberry tied the score 7-7 in the home-opener against Indianapolis with a 1-yard reception. Dennis Kelly scored on a 1-yard reception of his own, Nov. 24 at Jacksonville.

Kelly followed with another 1-yard touchdown catch in the postseason, specifically the AFC Championship at Kansas City. That made him – at 321 pounds – the heaviest player ever to score a postseason touchdown.

Back in 2016, Taylor Lewan scored on a 10-yard reception fewer than six minutes into a loss to Indianapolis.

Lewan is the Titans’ starter at left tackle. Kelly, after re-signing with Tennessee a little more than a week ago, is slated to be the starter at right tackle. Quessenberry, who spent five weeks on the active roster and 12 on the practice squad in 2019, agreed to a futures contract days after the season ended.

Now Sambrailo has joined the mix. So even if injuries become a problem, the Titans will still have big-man options for their passing game.